Last week, safety professionals congregated in New Orleans for the 2023 NSC Safety Congress & Expo. EHS Daily Advisor was on the scene, attending sessions and visiting booths in the expo hall. Here are some of our takeaways from the event:
Jay Kumar, EHSDA Editor-in-Chief
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) kept attendees updated on its activities with multiple sessions at the Congress. Fall protection remained the top-cited OSHA violation for the 13th straight year, followed by hazard communication, ladders, scaffolding, powered industrial trucks, lockout/tagout, respiratory protection, fall protection training requirements, personal protective equipment: eye and face protection, and machine guarding.
- OSHA officials announced plans to update the Hazard Communication standard, unveil a new Infectious Disease standard for healthcare settings, address workplace violence in healthcare, and focus on heat illness prevention.
- A gripping keynote address featuring Cody Nagle, recovery advocate and former White House advisor, and Jim McDonnell, former LA County sheriff, discussing the difficult issue of opioid overdoses and the need for workplaces to stock and administer naloxone. The NSC offered training sessions in the expo hall on how to administer naloxone to workers who have overdosed.
Grace Hatfield, EHSDA Editor
- Rachel Housman from Ally Safety, and Abby Ferri from Insurate, presented on the undeniable appeal of risk. People take risks everyday, and though risk has a bad reputation in safety, taking risks can have incredible payoff. Everyone has different approaches to risk-taking, and the goal should be to become a risk master, meaning someone who can take risks and manage them safely.
- There was a very large focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) this year, specifically with women in safety. Maj. General Jeannie Leavitt gave a keynote speech on what it was like to be the first woman to fly a fighter jet in the U.S Airforce. Tricia Kagerer, Grace Herrera, and Michelle Gray spoke on attracting, promoting, and supporting women in the construction industry, and how men can play a role in helping open the doors for women in the workplace.
- Jennifer McWilliams and Clinton Girton from OSHA presented two of OSHA’s most interesting cases. The first case had to do with machine guarding and caught-in hazards, and resulted in the organization installing acceptable guarding, developing new tools for the job, and revising their lockout/tagout procedures. OSHA emphasized that safety cannot be bypassed for production. Complete risk assessments, train employees, and take action to prevent reoccurrence, as no action indicates a willful violation. The second case dealt with retaliation against an employee who filed a claim about unsafe working conditions. OSHA had to partake in several rounds of mediation in order to finally get the complainant the appropriate compensation.